


I'll Just Keep On Making The Same Mistakes Hoping That You'll Understand

by notalone91



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I'm Sorry, Spring Fever, belle reads smut, dark castle smut, i'm never confident enough in my smut writing so i always have to compensate with fluff, someone should sketch me that ring i'd love you forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:48:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalone91/pseuds/notalone91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1st Part, pure, unadulterated smut.  2nd Part, cotton candy, sugary sweet, fluff. <br/>RSS prompt 2014: "Dark Castle Smut"</p><p>(Uncreative Title from Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Spring is known for having its own magical prowess, on nature, on life, and, undeniably, on lovers.  Even the notorious Rumplestiltskin and his longtime maid, Belle French, though not lovers by definition, found themselves under its spell.  

A brisk wind whipped around The Dark Castle as Rumplestiltskin whirred the last of his straw into a simple gold chain.  He twirled the cold metal between his long, thin fingers and rose from his stool, crossing to the window.  His maid should have been back inside by now, but knowing Belle, she’d found a spot on the grounds perfect for reading and lost track of time.

He could imagine it all so clearly.  The way her skirts swished around her legs as she walked, even continuing to do so after she’d stopped, having spotted the roots of a tree that had lifted and twisted in just such a way that it made the perfect chair.  The trees leaves wouldn’t have grown back in fully yet, this early in the spring, so she’d have enough unobstructed light to read by for hours.  He imagined the way the sun would kiss her hair, and cheeks, and hands and longed to be able to do the same.

It was foolish, he thought, to carry on such a line of wishful thinking.  He knew well enough that, with the way he thought of her, that he could, in fact, love her and sometimes, he thought, from her lingering stares and the way her fingertips grazed his a little too pointedly to the way she challenged and chastised and how she sometimes insisted upon staying nearby but instinctively knew when he needed his space, that perhaps- just perhaps- she could love him too.  With true love being the strongest magic he’d ever encountered, he knew that its power could perhaps break the spell of The Dark One.  

But what would that mean for him?  Would he return to his previous cowardice?  Would he lose everything he’d gained as The Dark One?

Even more, what if it didn’t work?  What if she didn’t love him?  Could he live with knowing that she didn’t feel the same?  That all he was to her was, in fact, a monster.

Rumple stared down at the glistening strand in his hands, and rolled it up between them, a pink haze enveloping his digits.  When he unfolded them, the chain had become a beautiful ring, with a rose cut morganite set in a teacup, the band resembling the spines of a stack of books.  He smiled sadly, pocketing the trinket, discounting any feelings she may have for him as his imagination.  She could never love him.  Never.

In the distance, he heard a door click shut.  She was back.  Shaking off the gloom he’d set himself in, he scurried out of his workroom and into the sitting room.

***

It was just as he’d expected.  With a flourish, Belle came rushing into the room, nearly tossing her basket aside on the table, looking flushed.  "Sorry I’m so late.  I got…“ she paused a moment, looking down at the book longingly for a moment, hesitating on the title and flipping it over, "distracted.”

“Is that so, dearie?” he mused, setting himself back on the couch.  "Tell me, what was the book about?“

Taken aback, the woman looked down at her basket for inspiration, blushing at the thought of what it was truly about.  All she found were a few flowers and leaves, the end of a loaf of bread, and her empty water pouch.  "It’s about gardener in a drought…” she fumbled, “who goes hungry until he meets a baker…”  She hung her head, cursing herself, before turning the book to face him.

Rumple smiled knowingly.  He had chosen each book in that library specifically for her.  He’d recognized the burgundy bound volume instantly.  While he didn’t place the title exactly, it was about a particularly passionate tryst between a far off prince and a concubine with certain appetites.  

Making herself look busy, Belle took to replacing a few pieces that had been strewn around the room deliberately to make it seem that Rumple had been sitting there a while, not because he knew that this was the first place she’d go.  

While the coy dance they’d been doing was fun, Belle was beginning to grow weary of it.  She wanted more.  She wanted the passion and fire she read about.  Adventure was all well and good, but sometimes, she needed the romance.  There was no point in trying to hide it.  She’d never seen the point in it, really, but he seemed to be convinced that he couldn’t let her see the softness inside of himself.  

A heat still dwelt inside of the woman from her reading that she couldn’t quell.  She devised a plan that she could only hope would work.  Taking one last steadying breath and closing her eyes, she knew too well that this could certainly come back to haunt her, she decided that it was now or never.  She wanted him too desperately to back down.  Belle flounced down on the man’s lap delicately.  "Oops,“ she muttered, hoping not to sound too contrived.  "I thought you were further over.  I’m sorry, I’ll just…” she began to move over, seeing the shock in the man’s face.  Fearing that she had been mistaken, her playful demeanor dipped momentarily into actual panic.

That panic subsided the instant Rumple had processed that this was actually happening.  He threw a hand around her waist.  "No, this is a better spot, I think.“

A calm smile crept across her face.  "I think so too,” she replied, leaning in teasingly, trailing her hand down his chest from his shoulder, toying with the ties on his vest, revealing more skin.  

His heart hammered against her fingers, eyes darting around to take all of her in, trying desperately to calculate his next move.  Here she was, right in front of him, with a sort of wanting he couldn’t dare let himself dream she’d show.  He’d never been so sure and so scared in the same breath.

Belle moved herself ever closer, drinking in the musk of him; decadent new leather, strong tea, and something she couldn’t quite place, dark and strong but not overpowering.  She could almost feel herself growing drunk on it.  Placing a hand on his neck, she thought to move in for a kiss.  Thought, that was, until his hands slid both around to her back, straightening her in front of him with her knees bent to either side of his.  She leaned back into his palms a little, relaxing.  She traced his outline a little, assessing how far she wanted this to go.  "Have you ever thought about this,“ she asked, a little afraid of the answer.

He nodded wordlessly, toying with the bow that sat at the small of her back, loosening it so that the tails draped over the crest of her bottom.  He left his hands there, hoping desperately that that wasn’t too far.  He found himself wanting more and more, but too hesitant to open his mouth to ask, as this was more than he could ever have expected.  Still, as much as he needed her lips against his, he couldn’t and wouldn’t let himself.

Secretly, he decided that it was to be a fun game.  Rumplestiltskin had overheard some young men talking about how much more exciting it was when the barmaids they’d taken upstairs wouldn’t let them kiss them.  Knowing that was off limits, it had seemed, they said, to heighten the sensation of everything else.  At the rate this was going, he couldn’t see where they’d be wrong.  Besides, he thought, there were certainly other perfectly good uses he could put his mouth to.  

"As have I,” she added, finally realizing the gesture was as ll she was going to get.  "I want all of you, Rumple,“ she whispered, a tension growing between her hips that was too powerful to ignore.  She laced one hand in the hair at the nape of his neck and brought her mouth to him, resting her cheek against his.  As she pressed herself flush against him, she couldn’t help but notice how hard he’d grown.  "And, do I take it that you want me too?”

This time, he managed a “Yes.”  Before he could choke out any more, Belle had her hands under his shirt, removing the pesky fabric and tossing it on the floor behind her and moving onto his pants; those blessed red leather ones that she’d commented on to herself time and again, silently wishing that legilimency was not one of the forms of magick in which he was so learned.  She loosened them enough to allow for his erection.  

In one swift motion, Rumplestiltskin had swept her off her feet and onto her back, head resting on the arm of the couch.  Slowly but surely he slid a practiced hand under her skirts, thumb massaging strong circles where her leg became her hip.  

Belle leaned forward, draping her arms around his neck.  Feeling her heart begin to pound in time with his, she brought her mouth to him hungrily, sucking at his muscular shoulder and digging her fingernails into his bare-skinned back.

Losing his grip on the piece of furniture, he slipped onto the floor, bringing her crashing down on astride him.  The pair shared a laugh.  They both should have known that the tiny couch would not have been enough room.  He rubbed a bit at a spot on his rear-end that was inevitably going to be sore later.  As their laughter eased off, Rumple noticed a strand of hair that had fallen astray, obscuring her face as it dangled across his arm.  He brushed it behind her ear, gazing back into her eyes.  She pulled him closer to her, sliding her hand down the front of his pants and palming at his crotch.  

A shiver from Belle took Rumplestiltskin by surprise.  He cursed himself for not thinking about some sort of spell to keep the whole of the castle warm, but this was reasonably spontaneous.  He got to his feet, pulling her up after him, not taking his eyes off of her for a second.  She followed along behind, arms wrapped around his waist, nipping distractedly at the back of his neck.

By the time they got to the main stairway, they’d both had quite enough of the travel to the bedroom.  She tugged him back to her and pushed him up against the wall with a devious smile.  "Here’s fine.  Perfect, even,“ she cooed, before she finished undoing his trousers.

Overtaken by her need, he pushed back, easing her up onto the hall table.  Hands shaking with a blissful cocktail of adrenaline, desire and cold with just the slightest hint of nerves, he toyed with the lacing at the bodice of her dress, suddenly desperate for what lay beneath.

"Tear it off,” she moaned, thrusting herself against him with a near rhythmic pace, scratching teasingly at his chest.

Rumple obliged, revealing a black silk chemise and the simplest of black panties, drenched through.  But, to the spinner’s delight, she wore, not her usual blue heels, but dangerous seeming black leather riding boots with a spiked heel.  He caressed her legs, starting at her hips and trailing lightly down to her knees.  "Let’s leave these right where they are,“ he said, teasing the tips of his fingers around the top edge of the boots before working his way back to the panties, working them off.  Finally, he came back for the top, leaving her as close to naked as he was.  "Fair’s fair, dearie,” he cooed, hands moving instinctively to her sides, thumbing delicately at her nipples.  

He licked his lips absently, deciding where to start.  His tongue then met her skin, leaving a glistening trail between her breasts, down her stomach, before reaching her vagina.  He flitted delicate circles around her clit before taking to broad strokes up and down.

Arching her back, Belle hitched her hips into him, urging him on.  She writhed with pleasure, slinging one leg over his shoulder, digging her heel into him without thinking.  She instantly felt bad for getting carried away with herself and laced her fingers into his, trying to bring attention back to him.   

Still, the sudden blink of pain threw Rumple further into both of their pleasure as if thrown into overdrive.  He looked into her eyes and asked simply, “Are you sure you want this, dearie? I can stop,” he offered.

“Please, Rumple, please.  I need you to,” she mewled.

That was all he needed.  He pulled her closer to him, sliding inside of her.  The pair moved in unison, table banging against the wall.  As she moved ever closer to her climax, he took special care to make sure they finished together.  When they did, she found her composure crashing down around her.  Near tears, she clung to him.  A wave of emotion came over her, stronger than any before.  "I l…“  As her footing came back, she realized just what she was about to say and froze, pulling her tattered clothing back around her.  Of all the things she was willing to admit, love was not it.  "I left a candle burning upstairs, I think.”  She stammered, easing off of the table and scampering off, swinging the door closed behind her, a bit louder than she’d intended.  She rested her head against the door and sighed, realizing that that- like her false synopsis of her book- had been completely see through.  She hadn’t been upstairs at all.  She cursed her lack of deceptive skills and went about in search of something whole to wear.

Back in the hall, Rumplestiltskin clicked his fingers, redressing himself and cleaning away their mess, smirking to himself.  Surely, he could have just as easily have done the same for undressing Belle, but where would the fun have been in that?  

He sat down on the bottom step and sighed, wondering why she’d run off so hurriedly.  She seemed to have enjoyed herself.  "This,“ he breathed.  "This is what happens when you love someone.”  

He leaned against the post and reached into his pocket, recalling the ring he’d made earlier.  Maybe it’d get used after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Years pass.  Curses get cast.  Subsequently, they also break.  Realms are crossed.  All in the name of love; Love of money, of family, of power, of morality, and, most often of all, of love itself.

People, however, never do change.  Not really, anyway.

The fact remains that peoples’ cores are what they are.  Their deepest desires and dreams, the things they love most are what they are for better or for worse.  In the case of a certain spinner, even stronger than his power-hungry self-servience was the love of a woman.  Namely, one Belle French.

Though the marriage they’d forged in Storybrooke counted in as much as it needed to, upon their return to the enchanted forest, Rumplestiltskin had a wedding of his own sentiment to plan.  It was just about all he could think of since they’d returned to the Enchanted Forest, all the evils of that world behind them.  

Besides, in the years that had passed, their relationship had been tested at length, so maybe it wasn’t the worst idea to make sure she still wanted him.  He’d been cleaved of the dagger, lost all of his magic and more, and was subsequently a man that Belle had never known.  Just a man.  A coward by any standard.

But first, he had to find it.

Somewhere in The Dark Castle, provided it hadn’t been plundered in the years they’d been away, it lay.  He’d carried it with him every day for so long, it had nearly broken his heart when it didn’t appear in his shop in Maine.  What was now decades upon decades ago, he had forged a ring for his true love.  From a few blades of straw-spun gold came a beautiful trinket with impressions of spines of classic books from their world around the band and a beautiful rose cut morganite set in a dainty teacup.  Upon their arrival, Rumpel dove into his search under the rouse of ‘fixing the place back up.’  

Belle agreed that it needed to be done, as she’d been back more recently than he.  Still, she’d hoped they could spend time together alone.  In the final battle, when Storybrooke had disappeared for good, sending half the town back, killing many, leaving some in the North American woods, things had been so tense, they hadn’t had the chance to really cope with the loss of their family; Regina’s ultimate sacrifice, Snow, Charming, baby Neal, Emma and Henry’s departure into the ‘Real World’.  They’d become a tight knit, though unconventional unit and now, she worried, that all of the progress they’d made in being completely transparent with one another would fade to nothing.  Henry had grown to be so much like his father that Belle credited most of Rumpel’s determination to be a hero, using the power he’d accrued as the dark one and freedom he’d gained since becoming severed from the dagger, to not wanting to disappoint him.  It didn’t much matter.  She had to trust wholeheartedly that he wouldn’t lose faith.

Weeks went by and Rumple began to fall into despair.  He’d hoped for this one thing to go right; a reminder that all was not and would never be lost- that even without their newly forged family, they could still be.  He’d searched high and low, room by room twice and three times over, but the ring was nowhere to be found.  Knowing that Robin Hood had called the castle home for a while, he had known deep down that it would be gone and, without his magic, it was irreplaceable.  

Finally, after a month of fruitless labor, he fell into bed with a sigh.  Belle, who had come in hours earlier to read, looked at him for a moment.  ”So, are you going to tell me what’s been eating you?”

He groaned, rolling over to face her.  ”It’s nothing, Belle.  Just…” he paused, feeling her knowing glare, and deciding to continue, “Lifetimes ago, I made you a ring.  I’d hoped that would still be here.  It was foolish of me,” he confessed, before shaking his head sadly, watching his plans fall away.

His wife couldn’t help but smile.  She dog-eared her book, and placed it on the nightstand, looking back at him. “What did it look like?”

A wistful look in his eye, he described the ring in perfect detail.  He wasn’t really sure why he felt the need to tell her if it wasn’t meant to be.  It was silly and, if it was something she’d have wanted, unfair to tell her about it when she couldn’t have it.

Belle’s eyes brightened.  She turned away from him and pulled something out of the drawer of her night table.  Opening her hand, she uncovered the ring on a basic gold chain.  ”So, something like this?” she asked.

Rumplestiltskin’s mouth went slack, taking the jewelry from her and looking it over.  ”Where did you get it?”  he queried.

“The shop.  It had been in Storybrooke all along, Rumple,” she laughed.  He could be so scatterbrained sometimes.  Surely, he’d have seen it and inventoried it innumerable times.  "It was in a pair of dust covered old gloves in the back room, and while you all were traipsing around Neverland and I pocketed it.“  Seeing no signs of recognition in him, she sighed.  "Clearly, I was right in my assumption that you wouldn’t miss it.  When did you make it?”

He stared at the object for a while, searching each engraving for a flaw, but it was exactly as it had been those many years back.  ”A long, long time ago.  The first time we… You told me a hairbrained story about what you’d been reading.  Something about peasants starving, when in reality it was nothing but a precursor to a dime store Harlequin novel.”  He raised his eyebrows and looked at her sideways, knowing she’d remember the night well.

A deep blush swept across the woman’s cheeks.  Of course that had been when.  ”You knew me that well then?” she asked, looking at the ring fondly.  Previously, it had been symbolic of many of her favorite things.  Now, knowing he made it for her made it all the more special.

“Yes,” he nodded, taking her hand in his, kissing it.

Suddenly, she had to know something that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t asked before.  ”Did you love me then?”

“Yes,” he affirmed.  "Did you?“

She smiled, and nodded, eyes closing for a minute, slightly embarrassed.  ”Why do you think I ran off after we made love?  I nearly said it, but I didn’t want to frighten you.”  She laughed at her youthful indiscretion.  Had she known then the funny games life plays on you, she might’ve stayed around.

"That would never have frightened me.”  She looked at the man, seeing through his temporary bravado.  "Okay, maybe a little.“  She turned her head ever so slightly.  They both knew the truth.  Feelings and Rumplestiltskin had never been copacetic.  "Or you might have spent a few days scouring the floors a little harder…”  She smiled a bit, remembering just who the man she’d come to love was.  "But secretly, I’d have been relieved,“ he finished, and smiled a genuinely relieved smile.

Coming back to the topic at hand, Belle gestured down at the ring again.  ”Now, why did you want this?”

Rumple was taken aback by the question.  ”To give to you,” he answered.  "But why this specifically?” she urged.  "Surely there were other things you could have given me.“

Now that they’d discussed it, and the ring was out in the open, there was no time for his big, sweeping gesture.  He’d toyed with the candles and roses idea, but that seemed to cliche.  He’d thought about a scavenger hunt, but he didn’t trust himself to not lose it without his magic.  He’d even thought about a screening of the cartoon based on their story, but remembered that the technology didn’t exist in this realm.  Well, honest and in bed… not necessarily grand, but it could certainly be memorable.  ”Because, Belle,” he started slowly, a quiver to his voice as he sat up to face her.  ”Our love has been through so many tests and, I wanted you to know that, now that all I am is a cowardly man, I still love you more than anyone could ever have imagined.”  Tears welled in his eyes as he looked at her, still as beautiful and fiery as the day they’d met.  ”But if you didn’t, I wanted to give you the option”  Belle looked back at him, eyes wet with her own tears.  In all their years together, she thought she’d had him pegged.  Even for as well as she did know him, he would always surprise her.  ”Belle, in my life, no one has ever loved me for me.  They’ve loved me for what they could get from me or it was mere pretense.”  He recalled his past loves, and those who’d loved him.  It wasn’t fair to lump Belle in with them, he knew, but he was still so scarred by losses, even the times he’d spent away from Belle, through curses, death, realms, and town lines, left him unsure of one thing above all else; His ability to be loved.  He’d warned her once, nearly a lifetime ago, that he was a difficult man to love, and had shown that to be so time and time again.  But he continued on, “This life, back here, is an entirely new chapter for us and I wanted… I wanted it to be a completely clean slate.”  He took her hands in his, running his thumbs instinctively over hers.  ”You can do and be so many things.  You could have all of the adventures your heart desired.  You could be the hero of your own story.  You could write the stories.”  He fiddled with the clasp on the chain, and slid the ring off of it, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a steadying breath.  ”This doesn’t have to be your life, if you don’t choose it to be so.  So, I’m asking, silly as it seems.”  He proffered the ring to her, tears streaming down both of their faces, “Belle, will you be my wife?”

Choosing, for the first time in her exceptionally verbal life, not to use her words, she pulled him in close and kissed him long and hard- with no evasive maneuvers from him.  For the first time, the walls of the castle saw a fearless, all encompassing kiss between them.  And it would certainly not be the last.


End file.
